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First Flight
'' |image= |series= |production=40358-050/224 |producer(s)= |story= |script= John Shiban and Chris Black |director= LeVar Burton |imdbref=tt0572210 |guests=Brigid Brannagh as Ruby, Vaughn Armstrong as Admiral/Commodore Forrest, Keith Carradine as A.G. Robinson, Michael Canavan as Vulcan Advisor #1 and Victor Bevine as Flight Controller |previous_production=Regeneration |next_production=Bounty |episode=ENT S02E24 |airdate=14 May 2003 |previous_release=Regeneration |next_release=Bounty |story_date(s)=March 2153/2143/October 2150 |previous_story=Regeneration |next_story=Bounty }} =Summary= As Enterprise is about to investigate a dark matter cloud, Captain Archer is informed by Admiral Forrest that his former Starfleet colleague, Captain Robinson, has died in a rock climbing accident. Archer, seeking solitude, desires to travel into the nebula in a shuttlepod armed with spatial charges to excite the dark matter. Sub-Commander T'Pol, noting that captains are prohibited from traveling off-ship unaccompanied, joins him and while underway, she coaxes him into relating the story of the Warp 5 program on Earth. In a series of flashbacks, Commander Archer meets with Commodore Forest, and is informed that although he excelled in simulations, his colleague Commander Robinson has been awarded the test ship, the NX Alpha. Disappointed, Archer goes to the 602 Club, a local bar, bumping into Robinson there. Later, Robinson takes the scheduled flight aboard the NX Alpha, breaking the warp 2.0 barrier. He refuses a command from Forest to stop and instead increases speed; the craft soon destabilizes and is destroyed as it approaches warp 2.2, but Robinson escapes. The Vulcans argue that the warp program should be postponed, but Archer wants the program, and his father's engine research, to continue. Archer, and his new friend Lieutenant Tucker, then go to the 602 Club to discuss the problem. Robinson arrives and blames Archer's father, and the two end up in a fist fight. The next day Archer discovers Robinson packing up the contents of his locker. He concedes that it is primarily an intermix problem, but that the engine could still work. Archer and Robinson then steal the NX Beta, with Tucker in flight control, but it starts to suffer the same issues as the Alpha. As Starfleet security detains Tucker, Archer and Robinson manage to coax the engines towards their goal of warp 2.5. Afterwards, Archer and Robinson are reprimanded by Starfleet, and the Vulcans ground the program for a year, but they eventually confirm that his father's design was sound. Back in the future, Archer launches the charges into the cloud, and T'Pol suggests that it be named after Archer's close friend, Robinson. =Errors and Explanations= # Archer and Trip didn't know each other prior to Trip's appearance just after Robinson's flight. That must have been ten years prior to the episode (it was mentioned in Unexpected that they know each other for eight years). But why didn't they meet earlier? They were both working on the same project, and Archer must have been in close contact with the engineering staff, especially since it was his father's project. Trip didn't sound as if he was new to the team. They were likely working on different shift patterns at first. IMDB Plot holes # When T'Pol states she's never read anything about 2 Starfleet pilots stealing the Warp 3 prototype, despite the history of their early warp flights being well-documented, Archer says it's not something Starfleet Command wanted to advertise. However, when they returned from the flight and were chewed out by Commodore Forrest, there were Vulcans present, who would have reported the incident to the High Command. Starfleet may have persuaded the Vulcans to keep the details classified. Revealing mistakes # During take-off of the NX Beta exhaust can be seen coming from warp nacelles instead of impulse and/or rocket exhaust port. These could be auxiliary boosters. Nit Central # Sparrow47 on Wednesday, May 14, 2003 - 8:27 pm: They keep going on and on about how this is Archer's father's engine. Wait... I thought that Archer's dad developed the Warp 5 engine, not this dinky Warp 3 thing. LUIGI NOVI on Thursday, May 15, 2003 - 2:33 am: Geez, with all the math I did in figuring out the chronology of the Warp breakthroughs and when the Enterprise was built, I totally missed that! The dedication ceremony for the Warp Five Complex was 32 years prior to Broken Bow! How the hell, then, could they only have achieved Warp 2 and 3 just ten and eight years prior to this episode??? Obi-Juan on Thursday, May 15, 2003 - 9:32 pm: I think that it's implied that Warp 5 is the minimum speed necessary for any human starship to do deep space exploration. Perhaps Starfleet calculated this, or perhaps the Vulcans set this as a requirement. During the flashbacks Archer and Ruby make mention of Warp 5, lending support to the idea that Warp 5 is the ultimate goal of the deep space program. If so, dedicating the facility as the Warp 5 Complex is a nod toward that goal. LUIGI NOVI on Thursday, May 15, 2003 - 10:45 pm: Why would anyone think of Warp 5 as an “ultimate goal” when they know that there is Warp 6 and Warp 7? Moreover, that doesn’t jibe with the fact that the normal cruising speed for the Enterprise is Warp Four, and gets around pretty well. And I don’t buy that about the Vulcans. What do they know about deep space exploration? Fight or Flight, Breaking the Ice and numerous other episodes indicated that the Vulcans aren’t much on exploring. Obi-Juan on Friday, May 16, 2003 - 5:26 pm: First Contact establishes that the Vulcans are quite interested in exploration. They're just more methodical and cautious than humans. I assume they know something about deep space exploration, as their fabled "Vulcan Database" proves. They have info on at least 50% of the races Enterprise has encountered to date. Either they bought it from a more spacefaring culture, or they're exploring deep space.''SeniramUK 12:25, November 7, 2018 (UTC)''Starfleet probably wanted to set themselves a fairly reachable target, even it it meant having to wade their way through the bureaucracy of initial simulation, production and testing first! As for the Warp 3 engine, that could have been a pre-production or prototype test unit, designed by Henry Archer as part of the Warp 5 program. # So, the launcher used to get the NX ship into orbit really smacked of BILC. If the thing has thrusters, why didn't it use them? Or better yet, why were they storing the thing on the ground? Earth by now supposedly has a colony on the moon; don't they have anything in orbit? They probably kept it stored on Earth to ease security and for routine maintenance. # LUIGI NOVI on Thursday, May 15, 2003 - 2:33 am: Why was Archer doing all the talking during the first test? I mean, first of all, the number of people they had seemed small to begin with, but what were they doing? Why didn't they get to talk to the ship? I would've like the test a lot more if it had run more like something out of the Apollo missions... ScottN on Wednesday, May 14, 2003 - 10:09 pm: They were following early NASA protocol. Archer was CAPCOM, and nobody speaks to the ship except CAPCOM.Keith Alan Morgan (Kmorgan) on Thursday, May 15, 2003 - 4:07 am: I thought it odd that Archer was 'CAPCOM' for this mission. I expected Forrest to be leading it. ScottN on Thursday, May 15, 2003 - 9:17 am: IANAA (I am not an astronaut}, but my understanding is that CAPCOM is always another astronaut. Obi-Juan on Thursday, May 15, 2003 - 9:32 pm: As ScottN pointed out, NASA uses astronauts to communicate with manned spacecraft. Specifically, they use members of the backup crew for the same mission. This is due partially to the astronauts' familiarity with the mission details and the sequence of tasks that must be accomplished, and partially because some of the most brilliant engineers have no ability to explain anything to anyone. Engineers focus on monitoring data and solving problems rather than dialogue with the flight crew. # Them artificial gravity systems that they have must be somethin' else, seeing as how they have them on the test models. This isn't nessecarily a nit, but for a prototype, is artificial gravity a necessity? LUIGI NOVI on Thursday, May 15, 2003 - 2:33 am: Sure makes things easier on the pilot, especially if there’s a systems failure that may strand him somewhere.TJFleming on Thursday, May 15, 2003 - 6:32 am: My guess—once you have inertial dampers, AG is an easy step. # When A.G. came out of warp, he was really close to Jupiter. Really, really close. I'm not going to try and do the math on the flight time versus the speed, but... Jupiter? Remember that it takes the Warp 5 engine six minutes to get to Neptune and back. Does this seem right? ScottN on Wednesday, May 14, 2003 - 10:09 pm: Re Jupiter. Jupiter is about 12 AU from Earth. 1 AU is about 8 light minutes. Warp 2 is roughly 8c (see all the discussion about warp scale on Broken Bow board). Warp 2.1 is about 9.2c. It should take between 10 to 12 minutes to reach Jupiter. # And remember that A.G. was in that dinky pod when he ejected... sure seems like he'd have to worry about getting caught in Jupiter's gravity, doesn't it? That depends on the test ship’s relative position and orientation. # LUIGI NOVI on Thursday, May 15, 2003 - 1:24 am: When the shuttlepod leaves the Enterprise in Act 1, T’Pol says that they should reach the edge of the phenomenon in two hours and forty-six minutes. Why not move the Enterprise closer to it to make the trip shorter? They probably needed time to a) fully prepare the spatial charges, and b) use the shuttlepod sensors to perform comparative scans on the nebula at varying distances. ''' # The Warp Two barrier was broken ten years before this episode. Archer tells T’Pol in Act 4 the Warp 3 barrier was broken about two years after that, and that the keel for the Enterprise was laid five years after that. That’s three years prior to this episode, which is about a year before Broken Bow. It took only a year to build the Enterprise???? The Tech Manual indicates that the Enterprise-D took eight years alone to build, and from the initial designing to its official commissioning was TWENTY. Sure, the NX-01 isn’t as big or complex as a Galaxy class ship, but still…only a year??? '''The major components and internal systems were probably made in advance, and then assembled once the keel was laid. # Keith Alan Morgan (Kmorgan) on Thursday, May 15, 2003 - 4:07 am: Tucker says, "It'll take us a little time to get the intermix right." How long does it take to figure out 1:1? TJFleming on Thursday, May 15, 2003 - 6:32 am: I thought he meant to ACHIEVE the 1:1 ratio. # TJFleming on Thursday, May 15, 2003 - 6:32 am: George Carlin alert: “Auxiliary APU?” That would be “Auxiliary auxiliary power unit?” Maybe they fitted it in case the primary APU failed! # Marc Lechowicz on Thursday, May 15, 2003 - 6:58 am: T’Pol insisting on accompanying Archer on the Shuttlepod, by pointing out Commander Tucker obviously didn't remind him that Starfleet regulations prohibit the Captain from leaving the ship unaccompanied. And why didn't he? Granted, Archer wants some alone time, but I'd expect a good Starfleet officer to at least make the attempt. He may not have wanted to push his luck by quoting regulations to Archer, especially so soon after the Cogenitor incident. # I'm not sure whether or not this is a nit. If T'Pol is familiar with Starfleet history, why hasn't she heard of Captain Robinson? Even if he didn't fly the first sucessful ship, he was still a big part of the program. Beyond that, I'd expect the Vulcan database to have a listing of all active Starfleet captains, if only for security reasons. Of course, it's never been established that T'Pol has a photographic memory, but it's still a little odd, to me. Of course, it could be that she's just encouraging Archer to tell his story, but I find it difficult to believe she's developed that much in the way of empathy in the last two years. LUIGI NOVI on Thursday, May 15, 2003 - 12:19 pm: She may have skimmed the chronology of events, but not paid close attention to the names of the individual pilots or engineers that much. # Why are the test pilots wearing helmets? They've got artificial gravity, so I assume there's enough room for life support in the ship's systems. LUIGI NOVI on Thursday, May 15, 2003 - 12:19 pm: Aren’t they other reasons for helmets? Pressurization when leaving Earth’s atmosphere? Having a contained environment in case of a hull breach or impromptu emergency spacewalk? ''SeniramUK 12:25, November 7, 2018 (UTC)''It doesn't necessarily follow that having artifical gravity leaves enough room for life support in the ship's systems. Besides, it could be standard procedure for astronauts on the NX test program to wear full ‘space’ suits during flights – after all, NASA Space Shuttle crews wore them during the launch phase. # In the flashback, Archer thanks Tucker for the latter’s help with the NX-Beta test, telling him ‘’My father would have appreciated it.’’ What, and Jonathan doesn't? As I understand it, Archer's father is dead, so it's not like he's involved at this stage. Wouldn't a nicer thing to have said been, "I appreciated it"? Marc Lechowicz on Thursday, May 15, 2003 - 8:54 am: I interpreted it as "I appreciated it, and my father would have, too." # Is it just me, or did Starfleet reach it's decision to put the NX program on hold awfully fast? It's the same day, for crying out loud. You'd think they'd have taken a few days to review all the evidence before reaching a decision. Just how badly does Starfleet want this project to succeed, anyways? TJFleming on Thursday, May 15, 2003 - 7:39 am: That's what "on hold" is--an interim measure to allow time for a final decision. Marc Lechowicz on Thursday, May 15, 2003 - 8:54 am: Then they would have said that the program was put on hold pending an investigation. (Which would make sense) What was actually said was that the NX program was going to be put on hold indefinitely while they rebuild the engine from scratch. LUIGI NOVI on Thursday, May 15, 2003 - 12:19 pm: Test flights should be put on hold pending the investigation into the cause of the NX-Alpha’s destruction. Not the entire program. And I agree that Starfleet’s reaction was premature. Forrest told Archer and Trip in the bar that they want to go back to the drawing board and build a new engine. That decision should be made after the investigation. Not the day of the aborted flight. # Someone who knows military protocol better than I can correct me on this, but if Tucker's speaking directly to Archer about not letting Starfleet scrub the program, why does he ask Forrest for permission to speak freely. For that matter, given that they're all off duty (they'd have to be for them to be drinking-especially with a higher ranking officer) why does Tucker have to ask permission to say anything? LUIGI NOVI on Thursday, May 15, 2003 - 12:19 pm: He probably decided to ask the ranking officer present out of respect. # When Robinson comes to visit Tucker and Archer after being debriefed, they're drinking out of bottles. What're the glasses for? If they were from previous beverages, why didn't Ruby take them away when she brought the bottles (which most good waitresses, at least in my experience, would have done). LUIGI NOVI on Thursday, May 15, 2003 - 12:19 pm: She did when she came by for last call. She hadn’t yet presumably because she had other customers to attend to. inblackestnight on Saturday, September 29, 2007 - 5:33 pm: Many places today bring glasses/mugs for bottled beer, even if the customer prefers drinking from the bottle. # Just how far does Ruby allow barfights to go? She sits there watching for several seconds before deciding to put an end to it. I expected her to say something right away. TJFleming on Thursday, May 15, 2003 - 7:39 am: Hockey referee? LUIGI NOVI on Thursday, May 15, 2003 - 12:19 pm: I would’ve expected the bar’s manager to say something, rather than one waitress. # For a pacifist, I find T'Pol's curiousity about who'd have won the fight a little out of character. She’s probably only asking in order to get Archer to open up a little, and continue the story. # While indicating the area of space containing the Dark Matter nebula, Archer says of Robinson ‘’ He would have loved it out here, too bad he never got the chance.’’ I'm confused, aside from the possible dark matter nebula, this part of space is pretty much like any other, so, why hasn't Robinson been allowed into space? Personally, I think this line should have been said later, when they finally find the nebula. LUIGI NOVI on Thursday, May 15, 2003 - 12:19 pm: I thought he was referring to the fact that Robinson didn’t get Earth’s first Warp 5 ship. The other NX-ships may presumably still being built or designed, which means Robinson is stuck on a Warp 3 ship, which can’t go as fast or as far. # Stone Cold Steven Of None on Thursday, May 15, 2003 - 10:51 am: Why is Captain Quantum-Boy depicted as a two fisted, beer drinking tough guy _here_, yet such a _wuss_ in the pilot? I can't see _this_ guy getting taken hostage and slapped around by hostile aliens every other week. Still… LUIGI NOVI on Thursday, May 15, 2003 - 12:19 pm: Being provoked into punching a guy who just insulted your father does not mean that you’re invincible when it comes to being assaulted by mutiple attackers with weapons. When Archer was taken by the Cabal in Broken Bow, there were two of them against him. They had genetically engineered advantages. And he still managed to initially flip one of them onto the ground. Being in a barfight doesn’t mean you can’t be overpowered. # Trike on Thursday, May 15, 2003 - 12:01 pm: Why would the captain of the first NX ship be chosen from a group of test pilots? Why wouldn't Starfleet pick a captain who has actual deep-space experience -- even if it's only on a much-slower ship? LUIGI NOVI on Thursday, May 15, 2003 - 12:19 pm: Because much slower ships don’t have deep-space experience. So they’re going to choose officers who are both good pilots and have leadership ability. # Speaking of slower ships, I thought Starfleet (or Earth) already had ships that could go faster than Warp 2 as of 10 or so years ago. Couldn't the Horizon and other Earth cargo ships go at least that fast? Maybe Starfleet was trying to go faster than Warp 2 with the Archer engine design. LUIGI NOVI on Thursday, May 15, 2003 - 12:19 pm: Shouldn’t they have had it 32 years ago, since that’s when they dedicated the Warp Five Complex? # T'Pol says Starfleet regulations prohibit a captain from leaving the ship unaccompanied. I could understand such a regulation only if the situation were perilous, not in general, but she didn't indicate that. Besides, she's not in Starfleet. Wouldn't the regulation stipulate the captain be accompanied by another member of Starfleet? LUIGI NOVI on Thursday, May 15, 2003 - 12:19 pm: Normally, but obviously, her position on the ship is an unusual one, and she is, for all practical intents and purposes, a member of the crew, which is just as good enough. # T'Pol invites Archer to join her meditating. But in the original series' Journey to Babel, it's established that Vulcans prefer to be alone when meditating. Marc Lechowicz on Thursday, May 15, 2003 - 3:01 pm: I think she was trying to help Archer deal with the death of his friend, either through actually helping him meditate, or drawing him into a conversation. 2-Cents Worth on Thursday, May 15, 2003 - 3:50 pm: Also, in Voyager, Tuvok meditated with Suder in order to help break him from his violent outbursts. # Obi-Juan on Saturday, May 17, 2003 - 8:07 pm: I do wonder what happened to the Vulcans since First Contact, after detecting Cochrane's first flight they come straight to Montana to make contact. By Archer's flight they make it policy to take a week to scan a planet with probes before they make orbit.LUIGI NOVI on Sunday, May 18, 2003 - 10:34 am: Where in the episode was this? KAM on Monday, May 19, 2003 - 3:42 am: I believe he's referring to dialogue in Strange New World. IIRC Archer wants to go down to the planet immediately & T'Pol recommends a week of study first. # constanze on Tuesday, August 23, 2005 - 3:13 pm: T'Pol cites a Starfleet reg., that the captain shouldn't leave the ship alone. Obviously she invented that on the spot, since so far, Starfleet didn't have regulations for real important things like First contact, alien cultures, etc. This could be a genuine regulation! # Instead of kicking them out for disobeying orders, and risking their lifes plus valuable equipment, Forrest predicabtly yells at them and lets them go with a slap on the wrist (3 weeks?? Please...) And later, Archer is rewarded with being made Captain of the Ent. Forrest knows kicking them out would make a bad situation worse, because keeping them in Starfleet allows him to retain some form of control over them! Category:EpisodesCategory:Enterprise